Tenants - Renters

Tenant Benefits Alliance welcomes you.

Tenants - Strength in Numbers

The most recent census figures indicate that over one hundred million residents of Canada and the United States are TENANTS.

As a tenant or residential renter that makes you an important part of one of the most influential consumer market forces in our local, national and global economy.

Regardless of which rental accommodation environment you live in; be it subsidized, rent geared to income, co-op, or private sector; we all face the same common issues of poor maintenance, physical building and equipment decline, annual permitted rent increases or above guideline increases.  Ask yourself why, as customers, we are faced with government sanctioned annual rent increases for landlords who are not maintaining their capital investment through normal day-to-day maintenance.  In other words, why are bad landlords being ‘rewarded’ as well as good landlords? 

Some governments have required condominium corporations to establish and maintain contingency funds.  These funds are used to cover the cost of major repairs and equipment replacement without the need to assess ‘special’ charges that forced many condo owners to sell their units.  A portion of the rent collected from every tenant is, theoretically, supposed to cover the cost of maintenance and repair.  If landlords were legally required to set the ‘maintenance and repair’ part of the rental fees they collect into a contingency reserve fund, tenants would face very few ‘special’ Above Guideline Increases in their rent.    If those monies have not and are not being used for maintenance and repair, where does it go?  It’s time for tenants to demand answers and action.

We need to look at these ongoing common problems from a ‘consumer’ prospective.

In Toronto, Ontario, tenants pay an average of $1,000 per month for their rental accommodation; that’s $12,000 each year to lease a ‘product’.  If you went to lease a car, you would expect and receive a warranty against defects or mechanical breakdown.  When leasing an apartment the cost of maintenance and upkeep is included in the rent we pay.  Why do we not have the same ‘consumer’ protection when we lease an apartment as we would expect when leasing a car? 

In Toronto, tenants pay up to 4.8 times the rate of property tax home owners pay.  For the average tenant that can be up to $100.00 paid each and every month, $1,200 each year, in excess tax. We have been paying this excess tax for decades.  Why are we not getting better support from our politicians?

As tenants we have paid more than our fair share of property taxes.  Why do we not have a consistent national, or at least provincial, rental housing standard? Standards should cover minimum heating requirements, minimum space per occupant, provision of electricity and water, security, fire safety, cleanliness as just a few examples. Why are the ‘Silent Majority’ of tenants (those in private sector rental housing) denied legal advice through legal aid, on tenant issues?  We’ve been silent too long.  If you’d like answers to these and many more tenant related questions, join us.  There is strength in numbers.

If you really want to improve your chosen lifestyle, take just 10 minutes of your time right now and:

1.     Complete the RateWhereU Live questionnaire

2.     Complete our Tenant Survey

3.     Complete our Tenant Poll

4.     Join Tenant Benefits Alliance